Manet and Degas: A Major Exhibition at Musée d'Orsay

The Musée d'Orsay in Paris presents a major exhibition comparing Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas, curated by Laurence des Cars (Louvre director), Isolde Pludermacher, and Stéphane Guégan. The show features works from museums and collections worldwide and will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York after summer. Both artists came from the same bourgeois Parisian milieu of the late 19th century and followed parallel paths in training and early careers, but diverged after 1870 when Manet distanced himself from the emerging Impressionist movement. Degas, while avoiding Monet's technique, remained close to the group. The exhibition groups works by common themes—portraiture, horse races, female nudes, Parisian life—allowing direct comparison. It closes with Manet's monumental 'The Execution of Emperor Maximilian' (1867), which was later reassembled by Degas after Manet's death in 1883. Degas collected many of Manet's works through purchases, gifts, or exchanges, aiming to create a museum, and supported efforts to bring Manet's 'Olympia' into the Louvre. The exhibition runs until July 23, 2023.